Thanks to the Jack Bloor Fund for helping me attend this course.

I have been attending navigation courses over the last few years with Lee from SMT Outdoors in Ramsbottom.  Over time we have discussed a range of activities, awards and volunteering of which I would love to take part in.  One of which was to complete the NNAS Awards and attend some orienteering events.  The other was becoming a Dogs bodies for mountain rescue, but found out that I have to be 18.

The Bronze NNAS award was initially booked for April before coronavirus started, so that got cancelled.  Then it was booked in July and Lee got poorly.  However, I have now finally completed it.

We spent a day walking around Ramsbottom, going from Nutall park to Edenfield north of Ramsbottom through fields, public footpaths and back roads. We walked through a field that belonged to a massive farm and then returned back to Nutall park on a different route.

The next day was spend walking around Blackstone Edge Reservoir in Littleborough.  During this day we were trying to locate landmarks on the map such as bridge.

 

Website for being a Dogs Bodie if anyone is interested.

https://mountainrescuesearchdogsengland.org.uk/dogsbodies/

The syllabus for Bronze is:

• Navigate using a variety of maps and scales.
• Use 4 and 6 figure grid references with worded descriptions to define the position of a map feature and to locate a feature on the ground.
• Orientate the map using handrails, obvious point features and major landforms.
• Use linear features (e.g. paths, tracks, clear boundaries) as handrails in simple navigation exercises.
• Relate prominent landforms such as large hills and valleys to corresponding contour information on the map.
• Orientate the map by aligning a compass needle against grid north and be aware that magnetic variation causes an inaccuracy.
• Use an orientated map to confirm the direction of travel.
• Use clearly identifiable features to confirm position along the route and to recognise when the target has been overshot.
• Measure horizontal distance on the map and estimate distance on the ground using timing, pacing and simple visual judgements e.g.100m.
• Plan and implement simple routes and navigation strategies based on the above skills.
• Recognise a navigation error within a few minutes and apply simple relocation techniques using handrails and prominent features.
• Demonstrate an awareness of local and national access issues, access legislation, personal responsibilities and the Countryside Code.
• Demonstrate appropriate knowledge of walking equipment, safety equipment and emergency procedures.

2019 had been a good year for me, some would see it as a natural progression which I had shown year upon year since I started racing. For me it was a massive leap, I was a lot more consistent and I finally was beginning to understand what I wanted out of the sport and the processes that would allow me to get there. I’d added several victories to my palmares, including the Elite Yorkshire Road Championships and had made a good showing in the 14 national A races I’d entered – only twice finishing outside of the top 30 – coming 5th at Ilkley GP and 10th at the prestigious Lincoln GP. 

One of the main things I believed had set me up for a solid season was my time spent in Calpe in January and February. I always had it in mind to repeat this but my student loans had run out and unforeseen issues with bike sponsorship had set me back a fair bit. I’d heard about the Jack Bloor Fund via word of mouth and this, in addition to working 32hr weeks through December, helped to fund a memorable trip. 

Calpe is a very desirable destination for a number of reasons; it is the warmest location in mainland Europe in January for a start. The roads are much smoother and the climbs are ideal for efforts. I was there for 5 whole weeks so I couldn’t just ride myself into the ground, I needed a plan… 

Until the previous year I suspect many in the peloton (If they had heard of me at all) regarded me as ‘that hillclimber’. A hillclimb is a short time trial up a hill. In 2015 I had won the British University Hillclimb almost by accident and the following day claimed the under 18s British title. I followed this up with many more victories, another British Uni Win, 4 yorkshire championships and potentially my highest moment as bike rider; 3rd in the Senior British Championships in 2017 (one of the youngest ever to stand on the podium). 

Strangely I felt rarely able to use that ability in British road racing and there aren’t many finishes hard enough to ride like that anyway. 

The thing about road racing is that it’s not necessarily how hard you can go but how hard you can recover. An ideal race would see you only having to make one big effort timed to perfection but in reality you may have to follow a lot of other moves or you may commit to something that doesn’t come off. My main focus in Calpe was to improve the efficiency of my recovery. Another element I prioritised was my sprint. Having a good 10-20 second effort in you is important, it means you can win races when you aren’t in the best shape as long as you can get into the front group. My final focus was on completing efforts when heavily fatigued – I’d do this by generally placing my harder efforts towards the end of a ride and harder rides towards the end of a block. The season is a long one and despite internal and external pressures to do otherwise, I refrained from focusing too much on my top end using the energy saved to do longer rides instead. 

In November I’d sent a message to a former-pro I had met on my travels last year, he was quick to respond and soon I had my flights booked and a place to stay. As we passed through Christmas and the New Year I was getting increasingly excited for the trip, I love travelling and I was looking forward to a more relaxed vibe. The villa was well equipped with two kitchens, a large garage and space to stretch and maintain the bikes. Most of the other riders were fulltime and had also come on their own and throughout my time there I met some amazing people and made many good contacts for the future. Staying in the UK I simply wouldn’t be subject to this level of exposure. 

In the first few weeks the weather was still fairly cold and there were even patches of ice on the higher climbs. Even so the riding was spectacular and time seemed to fly by – many riders say it’s almost as if you’re given the first hour for free. As we entered the third week a huge storm ravaged the coast, this was ideal as it created a couple of days of forced rest and allowed me to freshen up for the rest of my time there. The last two weeks were near 20C most days and you could set off in shorts and Jersey. 

My favourite block of training I did was the last one before I began to taper off for the plane journey back.The theme of the block was to simulate the massive fatigue built up during a 3 day stage race where it isn’t quite long enough to have any easy days.
On the first day I did 5hrs with no efforts, just a slight constant pressing on meaning that the girls and younger riders could just sit on my wheel. We started down the coast keeping it flat before getting a bit bored and turning inland in search of some bergs.
On the second day I set off solo doing another 5hrs but this time with three 15-25minute hill efforts where I’d do 1 minute hard followed by 1 minute harder, simulating the point in a big race when a big team begins to put the pressure on.
The final day I can honestly say was one of the best days I’ve ever had on a bike, I had 6.5hrs to do with 6x30seconds all out efforts in the last hour. We set off in a big group and I even did quite a big effort winding up my friend who’s a little heavier than me on one of the uphills. The large group split after 3.5hrs and I did a further 40mins with two others to a cafe where we lost track of time and ended up sunbathing for nearly two hours! After this I set off and I clearly hadn’t eaten enough as I was feeling very light headed. For some reason I then decided to go up the Cumbre del Sol – one of the steepest climbs in the region – and basically mowed through about 5 bars and a couple of gels on the way up. After a brief pause to take a photograph I was off again and actually felt amazing, I smashed my efforts and the only thing that stopped me from rounding it up to 200km was the fact it was getting dark! 

Coming back from Calpe I had a very easy week followed by a 10 day block of high intensity and then another taper before I jetted off to Rhodes. I came 22nd in the UCI 2.1 Rhodes GP which was a little too flat for my liking but I felt good and this was mainly my preparation race for the UCI 2.2 Tour of Rhodes which was the next weekend. In the tour I was always near the front and on the queen stage I got in a move on the hardest climb, we got a maximum gap of 90 seconds but unfortunately I crashed on the top of the descent 40km from the finish, luckily I was able to rejoin the peloton and we caught the breakaway. I was too badly hurt to contest the sprint but managed to finish 20th on GC in the same time as the winner only separated by bonuses at the finish and intermediate sprints. 

The week after, still injured from my crash and with a little bit of a cold I came 14th in the Roy Thame Cup. I missed the move and committed a lot to get across, I felt pretty bad that day but there was a background strength that I wasn’t used to, so I knew there was a lot to come. The day after, feeling even worse, I won the Magnificent 7 event in Sheffield. This was the last race I did before the Covid lockdown. I’m hoping to maintain my form but also increase my strength and aerobic base whilst waiting for races to resume. 

All in all I came away with what I wanted and more from the Calpe trip. Despite training like a pro and having several UCI races in my calendar I am an entirely amateur rider and it’s schemes such as the Jack Bloor Fund that help me take steps towards my dream of becoming a professional and travelling the world to race. 

With the support of the Jack Bloor fund myself (Sophie Thackray), Ben Houlihan, and Dexter Leeming Sykes were able to make the trip over to Belgium to race at both DVV Trophy Kortrijk, and Zilvermeer Cross in Mol, Belgium.

After making the trip to Belgium on Friday, Saturday’s race was a new course for the cyclocross DVV series this year, an urban cyclocross course by the river in the city of Kortrijk. It was a real mixture of mud, running and fast tarmac. Dexter and Ben raced in the junior men, finishing a very respectable 21st and 23rd after a tough race. I then raced in the elite women and finished in 23rd position, after holding a top 20 for the first 3 laps.

Sunday saw us compete in Zilvermeer cross, which is one of the toughest cyclocross courses in Belgium, due to the amount of sand and the technical ability needed. In the UK there is no courses with conditions similar to this, with so much sand and so much running, it was a real eye opener for the boys who had never been before. All 3 riders gave their all and performed well in the tough conditions. We gained valuable experience learning how to ride in the sand while watching and learning from the best riders in the world.

The experience that we were given to race across in Belgium with the best riders in the world would not have been possible without the support that we received from the Jack Bloor Fund. We are very proud to have represented them and want to give our thanks to the team for allowing us this opportunity to develop in our sport.

It was a goal that had been 2 years in the making. We had decided that we wanted to do our gold Duke of Edinburgh’s expedition in Iceland and had spent the previous 2 years fundraising to achieve this. 

At last we were underway, unfortunately Iceland air had cancelled our flights and the only way to reach our connecting bus in time was to take alternative flights from Luton Airport meaning a long drive and an early start. Finally arriving in Iceland we had an acclimatisation trek to a beautiful hot river, everyone enjoyed soak in the soothing waters. Little did we know if this would be the last we would see of the sun for over a week.

The next day it was another early start to get the four wheel drive high clearance bus to the start of the trek . The bus arrived exactly on schedule and there was some nerves as we set off knowing that there was no going back now and the next time we would see a road would be at the finish in four days time. It took just over 2 hours of dramatic volcanic scenery, dirt roads and river crossings to reach the start point of Landmannalauger. We were greeted at here with notices warning of an incoming gale that was expected to destroy tents. Advice from the rangers was to push on as quickly as possible to reach lower and safe ground before the gale was due to hit 2 days hence.

We set off as quickly as possible. Day 1 was to have the most ascent first 3 days of the expedition and we started off climbing steadily through impressive geo-thermal areas and lava flows. Views were stunning and we made good progress. 

Still clear for us, pause for the thought was had at the memorial to a young Israeli man who lost his life in blizzard conditions only a short distance from the nearby hut and safety. Cresting the ridge we dropped the short distance to hut and met up with our leaders. Crossing the plateau after the hut the going became more difficult with multiple small gullies to be descended and re-ascended. 

Everyone was glad when eventually we reached the edge of the plateau and were able to look down into the rift of the Alftvan Valley and the campsite for the first night. Before we could get there though there was a steep descent to the river and our first river crossing. We had trained on how to do this safely but nothing can prepare for the sheer shock and pain of the temperature of glacial run-off water around your exposed feet! Thoroughly refreshed by this extreme spa we covered the last few kilometres to our overnight campsite at Alftvan. With only an hour or so of daylight left it was important to quickly get the tent up and to cook and eat. The warden here again warned us of the incoming gale and advised us to leave as early as possible tomorrow morning to have finished the day’s trek, have tents up and be hunkered down prior to 2 PM the following afternoon.

Awake very early tents down and away from the camp site for 6 AM, at least we were not disturbing other campers as the other people here were doing the same. The first river crossing of the day came within a few 100 m of leaving camp and the coldness of the water certainly shocked everyone awake. A lava flow was crossed before second river crossing of the day, the most serious that we had encountered so far. The next stage is several kilometres over a black bassalt desert, barren but strikingly beautiful.

All the time and the wind was picking up as forecast. Arriving at the Emstrur hut we were greeted with bad news: the warden’s strong advice was that camping here tonight would likely see tents been destroyed by the wind and that we should continue to descend to lower safer ground. Having thought that we had finished for the day now we were only halfway through the mileage! Carrying on we were soon walking in deluging rain and strong winds. The next check point with our leaders was at the Pronga River Crossing. By this point we had walked nearly 40kms  and were thoroughly wet and tired. The river was raging and we weren’t sure if we were going to be able to cross safely. Our leaders went first to check it out and we could see that the water was well above their knees and the force of it was moving them about. Soon it was our turn, the water was very cold, deep and fast flowing, we really had to put our training into practise to make sure that we all got safely across. From here it was only another couple of kms until we could finally finish after a 12 hour long day. We were glad that the campsite had a shelter were we could cook and get warm and dry.

Our original route plan was to continue our expedition from Porsmork crossing the Fimmvorduhals to finish at Skogarfoss, but the continuing poor weather of torrential rain, difficult river crossings and high winds meant that that pass was closed. It’s not possible to walk out down the valley because of the river crossings and normal vehicles can’t get in, so the only possible way out of the valley was a  four wheel drive high clearance bus that comes twice a day. Climbing a nearby hill our leaders got enough phone reception to book us seats on the bus and we re -planned our expedition route to spend the next two days climbing some hills in the Porsmork valley area. 

On the day we were due to get the bus, we learnt that the bus could not cross the river to where we were, but there was a possibility that it may be able to get to the Basar camp site on the other side of the valley, if it couldn’t get there we would be stranded until the rivers went down. We quickly set off to get to the other campsite, we could get there on foot as there was a small footbridge over the deepest part of the braided river. 

 We really hoped that the bus would be able to get up the valley, it had been raining heavily for three days now and it was a struggle keeping dry clothes dry plus no one had much food left. There was much relief when we got to the Basar campsite and found that the bus had made it! The ride out was rather exciting with the bus having to cross several deep fast flowing rivers but we made it safely.

Our Iceland expedition was a huge adventure, we had a massive day of 40kms walk with a serious river crossing in very bad weather but we worked together as a team and all achieved far more than we would have thought possible if you had asked us before we set off.

Thank you to the jack Bloor memorial fund as well as all our other supporters and our leaders for making this adventure become a reality.

Llanberis, North Wales, late September 2019: Junior Home International, incorporating the British Mountain Running Championships and World Trials. 

With the un-characteristically warm weather attracting flocks of tourists and road-works putting a spanner in our timing schedule, we arrived at the course on Saturday morning without having seen the route. Nevertheless, the course was well marked and not too technical, following a ridge line to the summit before doubling back and heading to the foot of the hillside. Having spent a week training in the mountains in Lombardy at altitude, I felt confident that I could run well in the unexpected surge of heat. Having had a couple of strong sessions with our training group in Leeds in the run-up to the race, I was prepared for a fast race and the extra descent which mirrored the upcoming Worlds course in Argentina. The grassy slopes gave good traction and I was able to follow my coach’s advice (Andy Henderson), gradually pushing on throughout the race and focusing on the steep descent to finish 38 seconds ahead of second place. 

As the British Athletics policy allows the top two first finishers to automatically qualify for the U20 World Championships in Argentina, November, I am delighted to gain GB selection. I am very grateful to the Jack Bloor Trust for their continued support which has greatly assisted my training and race preparation, helping me towards my first British title and an enjoyable day of racing. 

 

Gothenburg 2019

Gothenburg is a self-help training camp for 18s and 20s based in the South West of Sweden. After late selection, I was all packed and ready to go, looking forward to the week of training ahead.  I travelled down south to meet up with my friend Chloe, who was also on the tour and after a swim in the hotel, we headed to bed before an early morning.

Waking up, the excitement was building, we headed through Gatwick and met up

with Sarah, Stan and Matt before our flight left the UK. Once we landed in Gothenburg, we were picked up by Mark and Alice and headed to the hut. When we pulled up at the hut, we met others and explored around the hut, and even had a short swim in the lake! Once everyone else had arrived, we all started getting to know each other and then we all headed out to a course planned by Kirsty and Joe not too far from the hut. It allowed us to get used to the terrain and stretch our legs after a long day of travelling.

On the first day of training, we headed on the bus about 10 minutes away from the hut and got ready to head out on the training courses that Ryan had planned, it was based around Delsjo and the exercises were control pick and long legs. The control pick helped me to focus on the main features within the area and allow myself to understand the physical demand of the terrain. After this course, Sarah, Chloe and I headed out on long legs and decided to do a Talk O exercise, where we each took it in turns on different legs to talk through about how we approached it. After this, when we returned back, we had some lunch and headed back to the hut. In the afternoon, some of us decided to do a short run around the lake, and then after another swim, we all headed in for an early night.

Waking up on Tuesday morning, I was ready for another day of training and today we headed out from the hut to a forest, Stafett, around 20 minutes walk away. The exercise we completed in the morning was to practise completing legs without a compass, this was to help us to focus on the main features within the map and to be more aware of what feature the control was on. For this exercise, Sarah, Chloe and I completed it together again and allowed each person to take the lead to a control. This helped us to understand the different approaches taken to tackle each control. The terrain was tough, and the legs felt tired, but spirits were high. In the evening of Tuesday, we had a training session with Sävedalens orienteering club whose club hut we were staying in and for this, it was relay practise. We could complete as many loops as we wanted, and it helped us to not be so distracted in mass starts and allow for cleaner navigation under pressure.

Waking up on Wednesday morning was hard, tiredness had hit, so the training I decided to do for the day was a shorter and steady course, as I decided that I needed to be careful especially due to competitions approaching on the weekend. In the morning we headed to the forest around 15 minutes drive away and from our drawn maps, which we had completed at the hut, I headed out on the short and long legs exercise which allowed me to adapt to both situations, in being quicker on the shorter legs and focus on the main features for the long legs, and allow me to focus on what feature I was aiming for and to stop focussing on every minor detail. After that, Chloe, Sarah and I headed out to the shops as we were cooking for tea. We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening cooking and then headed down to the lake.

Thursday was agreed that it would be more of a “rest day”, some of the group went to do a small amount of orienteering and others stayed at the hut. A few of us that had decided to stay at the hut, arranged to run all the way around the lake we were staying next to. In the end, Sarah, Chloe and I ended up running around 10km, so it wasn’t really a rest, but it was very nice to get out in the forest! After a quick trip to the shops, we freshened up and then spent the rest of the day relaxing down by the lake before 3 days of competition.

Around came Friday, and due to the middle distance event not starting until late afternoon, the group had decided to have more of a relaxing morning and then head into the centre of Gothenburg due to the event being over in that direction anyway. After a bus ride into the centre, we had a walk around the city, explored the botanical gardens and bought some souvenirs. We eventually all met back up and before we knew it, it was event time! We headed to the event and due to it being the first competition my nerves were high. I had a decent run but lots of mistakes made, it helped me to see what I did need to focus on even more back in the UK and also helped me to realise the things I was doing right. It was lovely terrain, and nice to stretch the legs after a long day walking around. After a long journey, we finally made it back to the hut and settled in for the night.

 Saturday was when the tiredness completely hit, both mentally and physically, however I knew I wanted a cleaner run today on the sprint, so I topped up on porridge and woke myself up for the day ahead. Once we arrived at the event, we had some time before Sarah and I headed up to the start. I had a really clean and accurate first half of my course and I was running well. However, as the course changed into forest for the last part, my confusion with the scale and not reading my map properly meant I lost too much time and ended up further down than I hoped. It was frustrating but I knew I had to learn from it. After the early morning sprint, the group split with some going to the archipelagos and the others, including myself, heading to Liseberg Theme Park. This was a nice distraction after the bad run and allowed the group to get to know each other better.

As Sunday rolled around, I knew it was going to be a tough day because even waking up was hard! I knew that I wanted to really try to nail the navigation and running over the terrain. As I headed to the start, my legs felt extremely tired and I knew the whole race was going to be hard, I also had to block out the fact that Chloe and Sarah were 2 and 4 minutes behind me. I hit the area of number 1 well and after wasting some time running around in circles around the control, I eventually punched and moved onto number 2, only to eventually find out that my run was about to go downhill. I had completely misinterpreted the map and the terrain and ran off in multiple wrong directions and relocating was extremely hard, particularly as I found myself making the terrain fit the map, even when it didn’t. After messing around for too long, the decision was made that I needed to retire. I realised that my body and mind weren’t able to deal with the terrain and I knew the heat was also making me struggle. I was disappointed in myself, but I knew I had made the right choice. After I returned back to assembly and put my thoughts into perspective, I realised I had made the right choice and although I didn’t experience the course to its full potential, the part that I did complete was fairly enjoyable.  After this, we headed back to the hut and down to the lake for one last swim as a whole group and enjoyed a late night together before the day of departures.

Monday morning rolled around and as we waved off the first four people to leave, it hit me how much I had enjoyed my week. Even though it had its ups and downs, the experience of running in Swedish forest and making new friends and developing my training around me showed me how grateful I was for the opportunity. The rest of the group that didn’t need to leave until later on in the day, helped to tidy the hut and then spent the majority of the day relaxing and having a swim in the lake. Before I knew it, it was time to head to Gothenburg Landvetter airport and catch our flight back to the UK. 

It was an amazing week of training, that helped me to improve my orienteering and helped me to identify both my strengths and weaknesses which I can adapt into my training. It also was so nice to make new friends and catch up with old ones from previous tours. I would personally like to thank Mark and Alice for all their time and effort spent planning the week and making sure everything ran smoothly. I would also like to thank Sävedalen AIK for letting us stay in their the hut for the week. Finally, I would also like to thank the Jack Bloor Fund for supporting me to be able to experience this fantastic opportunity. 

 

Grace Black has Olympic ambitions, she races Canoe Slalom. At aged 15 she has been promoted to the Premier division following a weekend of racing at Holme Pierrepont in Nottingham. This means she now competes in the same division as Olympic and World Cup athletes. The Jack Bloor Fund helped her to compete in two races, in Prague and Bratislava.

Firstly I would like to thank you for the funding you so kindly granted to Grace for her trip to the ICF and Junior European cup races in Prague and Bratislava. Please find below a report and photos of her in action during the training and races.
Grace has her own Facebook page and she has shared and promoted your page on Grace Black Canoe Slalom Athlete.

I had a great time training and racing in Prague and Bratislava in the ICF and ECA races. I received some good training from the GB coaches Aaron, Matt and Alice and enjoyed every minute of the two weeks. I didn’t get the results I would have liked but gained valuable experience from competing in my first ICF races. As a result of taking part I now feel I am better equipped to take on these more difficult races and achieve better results in the future and move up through the international rankings.

Grace Black
https://www.facebook.com/Graceblackcanoeslalomathlete

2019 European Mountain Running Championships

At the end of April, 12 Juniors from SYO jetted off to Estonia to compete as part of the 40-strong England Team at the World Schools Orienteering Championships 2019. The week-long event was based at the Tehvandi Sports Centre close to Otepää in the South-East of the country, with the arena for all days at the Athletics Stadium – complete with run-in along the track! The forests we were running in were adjacent to the sports centre, and all the races had a few final controls amongst the ski slopes and jumps.

Live TV coverage and results were available for all of the races, so supporters could watch back home as we competed. There was even coverage of the Opening Ceremony, complete with a drone to catch the action from overhead. Check out this aftermovie to see some of the highlights from the week!

Below are reports by the Select SYO runners (7 SYO members were individuals in Select teams, whilst 5 boys made up the High Storrs Schools Team)…

Model Event – Tuesday 30th April (Dom D)
Before travelling to Estonia, all the team were able to look at maps online (map-geeking), but it was difficult to judge what the areas for the races would be like, with the biggest unknown being the vegetation, and how it was mapped. The day before the official races began, we had the opportunity to check out the terrain in a specially organised Model Event. As well as a chance to run on very similar terrain, we could also see how things such as the start and finish would be set up. We went round the ‘score’ style course both in groups and individually, allowing us to meet up with our coaches to discuss what we found along the way, which helped us to develop our plans for the Long and Middle. We quickly realised the importance of avoiding even “light green” forest due to its density, and this was the main point we took away to bear in mind for the following days. There was a real mix of vegetation with coniferous and deciduous forest – some incredibly runnable, and other parts, such as the marshes, less so! For some members of the team these were the first controls they’d ever found abroad, and it was to be the start of what was a great week of orienteering and memory-making!

Opening Ceremony – Tuesday 30th April (Alex E)
After the model event it was time for us to relax and enjoy the opening ceremony in the sunshine that we would soon start to miss over the following days. The event began with the procession of flags from each nation, followed by a series of traditional Estonian dances representing unity and friendship. We then had some brief speeches from the Presidents of Estonian school sports and IOF, and the deputy president of ISF, as well as the oaths of fair play for the athletes and coaches. Last but not least was the ceremonial lighting of the flame: an Estonian athlete strode along with the torch – followed by an entourage of dancers – to officially begin the competition.

Long Race – Wednesday 1st May (Alex C)
After months of excitement, preparation and waiting, I was finally at the start line of the long distance race – my first run at the World Schools Championships 2019. After the previous day’s training on similar areas, I had already got a feel for the terrain and the map although, as prepared as I was, I was very nervous. The course started straight up a huge hill, which was both a technical and physical challenge but I navigated well and managed to keep running (pretty much) all the way to the top. The rest of the course went pretty smoothly and I made few mistakes, the terrain wasn’t very runnable but I really enjoyed my course. Running into the arena was an amazing experience and nothing like anything I’d ever done before, with live coverage of the whole event and an amazing atmosphere.

Cultural Day – Thursday 2nd May (Imogen P)
The cultural day was extremely exciting, it first involved a trip to the Tartu Science Museum which was amazing. We spent 4 hours in the museum going on the various interactive attractions including a spinning tunnel, various water exhibitions (which involved us getting quite wet!) and riding on a bike suspended in the air. After this it was time for a very wet but fun orienteering quiz course around the city of Tartu where we were sent out in groups of 10 to find various checkpoints around the town and answer a question at each one. Eventually this led us to the University which was where the cultural day celebrations took place later that day. The cultural evening certainly exceeded our expectations with every country performing their own national dance or song. My personal favourite was the Austrians at the start because we all ran down to join in at the end. England performed Morris dancing which was very hard and took me a while to learn but was definitely worth it and we got to dress up in costumes with England hats and tattoos. In addition every country provided a stall with different foods or items from their country. (The New Zealand sweets were really good!) All in all it was a very good day and I had a great time!

Middle Race – Friday 3rd May (Max M)
On Friday, the Middle Distance took place. Unfortunately, the weather changed dramatically from 21 degrees on the Long to 2 degrees and snow for the Middle. Luckily the quarantine was indoors. The wood was filled with small paths crisscrossing between small hills. It was really enjoyable but needed concentration. I had a great run coming in 1st after around half the competitors! After a nice risotto for lunch, I just had to wait to see how I had done. Amazingly I came 6th – which is on the podium. England also had 3 more podiums with Euan winning M2 School, Jim taking 5th on M1 Select and Flurry taking a 2nd on M1 select. Overall it was a great day for the English team! And as we were all tired, the rest of the day was spent relaxing.

Friendship Relay – Saturday 4th May (Sam C)
On Friendship Relay day we, as normal got up and got breakfast, then went to the event arena. England arrived early and we watched the rest of the teams slowly arrive. The teams of three, each from a different country begin to assemble. At 11 the maps were given out and despite language barriers teams had to decide the route they would take each. I had an Estonian and a Russian on my team and it was hard to sort out who was going where but after a while we managed. Next was the start. There was a giant pen and after 15 minutes the tape was dropped and everyone started running. Once everyone started and got all the close controls teams had to meet up at point A which was on a large hill. The same happened from point A to B and B to C. On the run-in everyone had to hold hands and afterwards there was the traditional swapping of kit as there are no more races. I managed to get the highly prized New Zealand top, a Polish top and a Spanish top too. It was a great day I will always remember.

Closing Ceremony – Saturday 4th May (Dom D)
Sadly, all good things come to an end, and so following the inter-country top swapping we headed back to our accommodation to get ready for the closing ceremony… and farewell party! The other members of my team had put in some fantastic runs in the Long and Middle Races, placing our M1 Select team 1st overall. The overall prizegiving was incorporated into the closing ceremony, along with the expected speeches, and a slightly less traditional performance by a dance troop, including one where the dancers portrayed a snooker game! Alas, it was the end of World Schools 2019 – but there was just time for the Farewell Party – complete with a live Estonian singer and band, who performed a mix of originals and covers (thankfully!)

A huge amount effort was put into the World Schools Orienteering Championships 2019 – complete with Opening and Closing Ceremonies, and live results and streaming to those back home – and so we’d like to thank the organisers for putting on such a great event, and our England team managers for making it all happen.

Equally our thanks go to the Jack Bloor Fund, Yorkshire and Humberside Orienteering Association, and SYO for their financial support.

Overall a fantastic experience, making memories that will last a lifetime!